1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical card connector having a shutter mechanism and being adapted for compatible insertion of at least two kinds of electronic cards, due to an activity of the shutter mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, in an electronic instrument, the use of various of electronic cards has been rapidly increased. Therefore, an electrical card connector has been widely required for compatible insertion of at least two kinds of small-sized electronic cards, such as SD (Security Digital) card and MINI SD card.
A conventional composite type card connector described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,863,571 comprises an insulative housing, a cover member, first contact member for a small card, second contact member for a large card, a locking mechanism and an operation mechanism having a movable plate and an operation plate. The locking mechanism is formed with a protrusion and a locking claw engaging with the protrusion. The operation plate is provided with a pair of L-shaped guiding slots each defining a slope section extending obliquely upwardly and a horizontal section extending in a horizontal direction. The movable plate is provided with a pair of projections capable of sliding along the guiding slots. When the small card is inserted into the insulative housing beneath the movable plate, the movable plate is fixed in a lower position, with the projections thereof positioned in the horizontal sections of the guiding slots. When the large card is inserted into the insulative housing, the large card would abut against the locking claw to thereby upwardly push the locking claw. The locking claw is released from the protrusion to unlock the locking mechanism. Therefore, the movable plate is pushed inwardly and upwardly along the insertion direction of the large card, with the projections thereof sliding upwardly from the horizontal section toward the slope section. The large card is completely inserted into the insulative housing.
However, it would produce friction force between the projections and the guiding slots when the projections sliding along the guiding slots to upwardly push the movable plate. Therefore, the sliding movement of the projections would be affected by the friction force. Furthermore, the projections may be impaired under the friction force when the connector is used for a certain long time.
Hence, an improved electrical card connector is required to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the related art.